Brenden Varma
Contact Info
Playwright accepts commissions.
Bio
Brenden Varma is a New York-based writer and performer. His principal play, entitled Safe Space, satirizes the notion of community through a comedic look at support group meetings for gay South Asians. A reading of Safe Space first took place at an event organized by the South Asian League of Artists in America (SALAAM) in June 2003. Because of the positive feedback received, â Safe Spaceâ was expanded from a one-act into a full-length play and featured in another SALAAM reading in June 2004. The newspaper “The Urban Indian” referred to that reading as “very comical.” The original one-act version of Safe Space was featured in the Catamaran Journal of South Asian American Writing in its Fall 2004 edition. It also formed part of the syllabus of a course on Asian-American literature in 2006 in California’s Foothill-De Anza Community College District.
Brenden was born in Pennsylvania to a Punjabi father and Maharashtrian mother, who met while both serving in the Indian Army.
Plays
Full Length Plays
Safe Space
2003
Safe Space is a satirical comedy featuring the South Asian-American gay and lesbian community. Opening with a support group meeting, the play follows the lives of a number of diverse characters as they try to reconcile their sexuality with their cultures and religions. The play takes place in Manhattan, shortly after the September 11 attacks.